The Sweeney: Bait (ITV 19 Oct 1978, with George Sewell)

In Bait Regan and Carter are on the trail of Vic Tolman and his girl Lynn who have pulled off a series of robberies. Lynn has been posing undercover at a factory to gain inside knowledge and their latest robbery leaves the Squad without a clue.

Vic has insisted that the mentally challenged Lennie, who helped the pair on their last job, is now a permanent part of the team but Lynne thinks he is a liability.

Meanwhile the Squad do have one clue as they also have Lynn’s young daughter (who is being looked after by another woman) under surveillance. When her daughter then falls ill Lynne looks like she may bring all three of them down.

The episode is like a mix between Bonnie and Clyde and Of Mice and Men actually, with a strong performance from Edward Peel as Lennie (so much so that Lennie is named after the similar character in Steinbeck’s novel.

George Sewell, who was a regular on the last two seasons of earlier Thames Euston show Special Branch, is Vic Tolman and Barbara Ewing also turns in another of her strong performances, she almost kills Carter in one scene, threatening him with a foot long kitchen knife – George is forced to knock her out with one of his famous right hooks.

Hazell: Hazell and the Suffolk Ghost (ITV 31 May 1979, with Meg Davies)

In Hazell and the Suffolk Ghost our intrepid hero pays a visit to the seaside when an accountant, Peter Harlow, calls him in over a cottage he has been left in a will. He has no idea why he has been left the cottage but since he has taken over ownership more than a few strange things have been happening.

Hazell stays at the cottage for a few days and manages to find no small amount of comfort when Harlow’s wife Stephanie turns up (Harlow himself is in New York). Although there is clearly something spooky going on it’s definitely man made and it doesn’t take Hazell too long to work it out.

The episode was a rare outing outside of London for the series, it was filmed in the East Anglian village of Walberswick and surrounds. Although all the interiors were filmed in studio of coure.